734 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1893. 



the latter the cupola is either surmounted by a cone or that it is inverted. The 

 most general style is the following: The base is a cube, upon which rests the 

 inverted cupola. This cu])ola is the principal part. It incloses the objects enshrined, 

 and in it is the hole leading to the sjjace for the ofierings. A graduated pinnacle 

 rises above it, and tins is either a cone of stones or a wooden spire. It is surmounted 

 by a disk placed horizontally and a spear-shaped point, or, iustead of it, by a crescent 

 supporting a globe and the pear upon that. * * » 



The materials used for the choiteus in the open air are rough stones, bricks, or 

 clay; they are almost all of solid masonry. The outer surfaces are thickly plastered 

 with mortar, which is colored red with the dust of pounded bricks. * * # j'Ijq 

 height of the chorten is in general from 8 to 15 feet, though a few considerably 

 exceed this latter height. » ^ * Those set up in the temples are molded from 

 metal, or, more generally, from clay mixed with chopped straw. Occasionally they 

 are carved of wood, but such chorten scarcely ever exceed 4 feet. They are often 

 not higher than as many inches. (Emil. Schlagintweit. Buddhism in Tibet, pj). 192- 

 196.)' 



There is iu the Museum collection a i)hotograi»li of the celebrated 

 lamaist sauctuarv of Wu-t'ai shau {Ri-vo tse na), iu Shau-hsi, in uorthern 

 Ohiua, which shows a very fine ch'lirten, probably 00 feet high, with a 

 large gilt spire of the horizontal circle and vertical disk and crescent 

 style described by Schlagintweit. In this ch'lirten is said to be kei)t a 

 body relic of the Buddha Gautama. 



Mdni walls. — This name is given to long, low walls of rough stones, 

 on the surface of which are incised sacred formulas, usually the 

 famous six-syllable formula Omi mdni padme hum. The name given 

 tlie wall is derived from the name of this prayer, which is col 

 loquially called "the mani." They are also known as inendong, prob- 

 ably written mang dong, " many stones." Frequently images of gods 

 are incised on the stones, and I have also seen long passages of the 

 Scriptures on them. Frequently a whole mdni wall will be covered with 

 slabs on which are inscribed one of the long theological works in which 

 lamas so delight, sometimes the Pradjna paramita in 8,000 verses. 

 Plate 34 shows an inscribed stone from iimd)ii wall in a Bonbo country 

 ^f northeastern Tibet (Jyade). It is of slate, is painted red, and the 

 mantra incised on it is Om, matrimuye sale hdu, a favorite one of the 

 Bonbos. 



Schlagintweit {op. cif., p. 197) says the longest mdni wall known of 

 is 2,200 feet long. Some, he says, have a kind of tower at either 

 ■end, occasionally in the form of a ch'iirten, with a sacred image in 

 front, and a large pole to which flags with prayers are attached are 

 also not unfrequent at the ends of manis. Travelers, when passing 

 along these mdni walls, leave them on their left side if they are true 

 believers, and on their right if they belong to the Bonbo faith. t 



Labtse or lieaps of stones, also called dobong^ and in Mongol obo, are 

 to be seen on the summit of every pass in Tibet, and frequently at the 



*The shape of the ch'iirten is symbolical, but I can not enter into an explanation 

 ■of it here. See Dr. AVaddell, op. cit., p. 262 et se<j. 



t See also on ch'iirtens, H. A. Oldfield, Sketches from Nipal, a, 211. 



